Semiological Discourse Analysis of the Editorial Cartoons of International Newspapers on COVID-19 - Open Journal Systems

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Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, October-December 2020, Vol. 14, No. 4   6169

   Semiological Discourse Analysis of the Editorial Cartoons of
            International Newspapers on COVID-19

                                           Mutaz Mohammad Alkhresheh
 Assistant Professor, Department of General Courses,, College of Applied Studies and Community Service, Imam
               Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box1982, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia

                                                         Abstract
    The present study aimed to find the hidden ideological approaches used by the newspaper editors in the
    portrayal of their cartoons in the respective newspapers. The target of this research was to achieve a broad
    spectrum comparison of semiotics as depicted in international newspapers as Dawn based in Pakistan and
    The Economist based in Britain. The objectives of the research were achieved by dividing the study into two
    parts. At first, the written parts of the cartoons were analyzed, and secondly, the semiotics was analyzed.
    An integrated framework of analysis was used and the researcher blended the CDA model by Norman
    Fairclough and the semiological framework of Roland Barthes. The study revealed that Dawn presented the
    domestic problems of the health care system. Further Dawn presented the severe attacks of Covid-19 and
    locusts and the drastic effects of locusts on the agriculture-based economy. The Economist presented an
    American cultural disorder of racism that has been part of its earlier history. The Economist also highlighted
    the precarious state of Brazil and the inefficiency of the government to tackle the spread of Covid-19. It was
    concluded that the semiotics presented in the newspapers portrayed the situation related to Covid-19 and
    its long-lasting effects have been discussed in the context of culture and social practice. A comparison of
    semiotics was presented at the end of the study.

    Keywords: Covid-19, International media, Third-world, Western media, Semiotics, CDA.

                     Introduction                                of the time. Later on, it was developed as a form of
                                                                 criticism.
     Since the advent of civilization art and paintings have
contributed to mass education. the earlier cave men                   The cartoon may highlight the issues related to
even loved paintings and the evidence have been                  religion, economy, law and order, and international
collected from the caves and later, when people started          emergencies. Socio-political cartoons bring humorous
living in city-states they started entertaining each other       criticism and questions to the existing order. The biases
with music and art. Initially, these were the enactment          of newspapers and editors are the real questions that are
of the religious subject which resulted in Modern Greek          often neglected. Cartoons and discourse together work
drama and stage and slowly liberal art developed.                as motivators. The cartoons are considered a valuable
The western renaissance started with art. While in               part of the newspaper as the cartoons present the existing
Asia especially in Indus valley there were religious             problems differently.
ceremonies where the stage and art were a prominent
part of religious and cultural festivals. Art contributed             Van Dijk explained the idea of critical discourse
to the spread of knowledge and information. Cartoons             analysis is being critical in scientific thinking. He asserts
became a prominent part of newspapers since the advent           that CDA and CL (critical linguistics) share common
of journalism as a field that now enjoys a position of           perspectives on carrying out discourse analysis, semiotic
stakeholder in state. Cartoons provide concise, sarcastic,       analysis, and linguistic analysis. The subject matter of
and clever impressions of issues on the situation                critical discourse analysis is the investigation of social
pertaining at a specific time. The first political cartoons      inequalities, class conflict and class struggles, cultural
appeared in Mesopotamian Civilization (modern-day                disorders, and social practices.11
Egypt) in 1360 BC. A painter ridiculed political leaders
6170     Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, October-December 2020, Vol. 14, No. 4

     The study argues that the discourse of newspapers is                                 Literature Review
ideologically loaded which employs a language replete
                                                                           Conceptual Definitions
with multiple meanings and plays an important role in
the opinion the building of masses. The media plays a                     To make the subject of the study comprehensible,
vital role in public perception.                                      the following terminologies and concepts are briefly
                                                                      discussed.
     The cartoonists use analogy, labelling, humour,
satire, and exaggeration for expression of their opinion                   Cartoons and Caricature
and ideology to readers.
                                                                           Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary defines
     It is argued that in literature writer’s satire the              the cartoon as “an amusing drawing in a newspaper or
situation and art, artists create it in cartoons. Satire hits         magazine, especially the one about politics or events
human follies and prejudices through written and spoken               in news”. The cartoon is often called a non-realistic or
discourse while in art satire is painted or sketched.                 realistic type of drawing. The concept of cartoons came
Cartoons provide an escape from lengthy discourses                    into being during the middle ages or dark ages and it was
and their explanations. The area of semiotics is very                 considered a piece of art painting, fresco, tapestry, etc.
significant as it highlights the existing problem with                but later on, it was considered as a means of satire and
pictorial imagery. It may highlight culture, cultural                 humor. In the years 1843 cartoon was considered as an
disorders political disorders, the role of language in                ironic or comical picture in periodicals and newspapers.
nation-building and use of language at public places, etc.            In the early 20th century it was considered as animated
The study analyzes the semiotics of two leading English               films like printed cartoons. While in the case of the socio-
newspapers like The Economist and Dawn. The CDA                       political cartoon it is considered as a medium of graphic
model of Fairclough and semiotics model of Roland                     representations of public figures with the expression
Barthes has been integrated to carry out the study.                   of the editor’s opinion. The cartoons typically contain
                                                                      artistic skills to portray an image of public interest
       Significance of the Study
                                                                      ranging from religion, philosophy, and history, economy
    The study has focused on socio-economic and                       to politics, health, and law. This cartoons satire the
geopolitical constructions of countries and their                     existing norms of society and cultural practices (directly
possible response to international emergencies in their               or indirectly). These cartoons were analyzed based on
premises. Moreover, the drastic economic effects                      the semiotic model of analysis in this study.
of Covid-19 have been discussed. Besides, the analytical
                                                                           Semiotics
framework used in the study has been a blend of three-
dimensional Fairclough’s model of critical discourse                      The study of signs and symbols is called semiotics.
analysis and Barthes’ model of semiotics study. The                   Signs can be symbolic, linguistic, and artificial, or any
data have been collected from international newspapers                other thing. The writer divides signs into three particular
as Dawn based in Pakistan and The Economist based                     categories as symbols, icon, and index.10 Ferdinand de
in Great Britain. This factor makes it interesting that               Saussure proposed the concept of signifier and signified.
how western media and Eastern Media depict the same                   Saussure asserted that signs and language are arbitrary.3
issue in their respective newspapers, keeping in view the             Roland Barthes introduced the idea of the significance of
existing socio-economical problems of the country.                    signs as denotative, connotative, and mythical. Roland
                                                                      Barthes proposed that a symbol or sign can be analyzed
       Research Questions
                                                                      on three levels. These levels are denotative, connotative,
   1. How did daily dawn present the international                    and mythical respectively.2
medical emergency of Covid-19 through its’ semiotics?
                                                                           Written and Visual Discourse
   2. How did The Economist present the international
                                                                          The literal meaning of the word ‘discourse’ is
medical emergency of Covid-19 through its’ semiotics?
                                                                      an argument. Levin and Hovav asserted that the most
    3. How did the newspapers’ semiotics differ in                    commonly used type of discourse used in academic,
portraying the same news?                                             legal, and writings of the press are expository discourse.7
                                                                      The discourse was primarily the subject of written
Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, October-December 2020, Vol. 14, No. 4   6171

and spoken language but later in the 18th century                Mwetulundila, and Kangira. The researchers explored the
as scientific knowledge was elaborated with visuals              use of hectic and humour in Dudley’s political cartoons.
rather than written codes. This was the breakthrough             The descriptive study was carried out qualitatively for
in systemic and logical patterns of language. Now                the analysis of semiotics and content. Criteria sampling
language was science and its’ evolutionary aspects were          technique was used to collect the data. The study was
discussed. Morgan said that linguistic and paralinguistic        carried out by using the concepts of Aristotle on rhetoric
features of language constitute discourse collectively.8         persuasion, which include logos, ethos, and pathos. it
Historical shreds of evidence as well as existing issues         was concluded that ethos was used for higher figures
are discussed in the critical discourse analysis. Now            in societies. Pathos was used to accelerate the feelings
it is argued that comprehension of discourse can be              of readers to earn sympathy for discussion and logos
increased by visual representation. Print media relies on        were used to convey that cartoons brought the truth to
the semiotic or visuals for concrete issues as well as the       surface.9
subjects of common life.
                                                                     Idid and Chang explored the mass agenda of two
    Albers argued that there is VDA as a visual discourse        major groups and media in 2008 elections by using tools
analysis in which image is analyzed by using the rules of        of survey and content analysis. The concepts of rank-
written discourse.1                                              order correlation were used to analyze the impact of
                                                                 the media campaign in the election. It was found that
    Covid-19                                                     Chinese media had a great affiliation with the public
    Coronavirus disease of 2019 abbreviated as                   agenda and maintained that Chinese newspapers affected
Covid-19 has been declared as an international health            what should people think.6
emergency by the United Nations and it has spread                    The research was conducted by Sheikh Et.al. 2013
large scale deaths and large scale economic recession            on Pakistani newspapers that how newspapers used
for consumers and producers that are recognized first            communicative cartoons in the 2013 election. The
from China in November 2002 and later on in Vietnam              researcher implied the Quanto-qualitative method was
in 2003.                                                         used for semiotic analysis. Persuasion techniques were
     In 2020 in December it was reported from Chinese            used by cartoonists. It was explored that persuading
Wuhan that individuals have been affected by this                techniques were used with irony, exaggerations, and
disease. And then it spread around the globe with                symbols to produce desired outcomes from readers.
drastic effects. The countries are facing problems in                 El Falaky, examined the editorial cartoons extracted
the economy and health sector. The case of third world           from an Egyptian newspaper named AL Ahram. The
countries is very critical. The incapacity of the health         study explored how cartoons and visuals were used to
department in these countries has been affected severely.        create the desired ideologies. The researcher used the
Paramedical staff and doctors are losing their lives daily.      visual grammar method of Kress and Leeuwen. The
The western countries are of no exception. Italy has been        study revealed that with the use of multimodal texts
a major victim of this pandemic and Brazil is exhausted.         the editors of the newspapers inscribed their desired
International media is reporting with heavy hearts as the        political and ideological stances on the readers in the
death toll keeps on increasing. The economic impacts of          critical times of social and cultural unrest.
covid-19 are shaping world affairs in another dimension.
The linguists are calling the future as the post-covid-19            This study relies on the semiotics of two English
era. Newspapers are also trying to depict the situation in       newspapers like The Economist and Dawn based in
their cartoons. Editorial articles are published and expert      Britain and Pakistan respectively.4
opinions are published for the control of pandemic
on the individual level. This study explores the use of                                  Methodology
semiotics in international newspapers. And comparison                 The research methodology is a systemic way to carry
will be drawn at the end.                                        out a particular study at hand. In the field of language and
    Review of different researches                               literature different techniques, theories and models have
                                                                 been introduced. The field of linguistics deals with the
    Namibian      newspapers      were      analyzed      by     research on scientific terms, definitions and processes
6172     Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, October-December 2020, Vol. 14, No. 4

for the conduction of the research. This study has been                      The first level in this model deals with textual
carried out by blending the CDA model and Semiotic                    analysis of a given piece and particular aspects of the
Model. In the field of critical discourse analysis, different         text are dealt with the analysis of text as the use of
techniques have been at hand. Van Dijk’s model of                     vocabulary, grammatical structures, lexical choices, etc.
CDA, Foucault’s discourse analysis model in terms of                  These aspects are described for further explanation to
sociology and there is another prominent name in the                  the next level.
field of CDA and it is Norman Fairclough introduced
three steps method to carry out the research. In the field                 2. Discursive practice (interpretive level)
of semiotics two major names of great importance. The                      It deals with the production and consumption of the
first is Saussure who introduced the concept of signifier             text. The source of text and mode of its production are
and signified in the field of semiotics. And second is                discussed at this stage. The text is interpreted as social
Barthes who introduced the three levels of analysis.                  practice and social ideologies of text are interpreted.
CDA and its model of analysis have been elaborated and
Barthes’ model follows CDA in the order.11, 5                              3. Social practice (explanation level)

       CDA                                                                In this stage factors of power and ideology are
                                                                      created to explain the relationship between socio-
     Critical discourse analysis is elaborated as follows             cultural context and production of the text and its use in
along with its critiques. The first rule of critical discourse        a particular context. The linguistic and meta-linguistic
analysis is that it talks about social problems and arising           features of the text are analyzed.
disorders as its resultant. CDA focuses on language, use
of language, and existing social and cultural problem                      Semiotics
which affects it. CDA makes a critical approach to find
political relationships in the power systems. According                   According to Ferdinand de Saussure, language is
to Fairclough and Wodak, CDA tries to extract outcomes                a system of signs. Society responds to these signs in a
that have relevance to the social, cultural, and economical           predictable way. According to Saussure sign is made
perspectives.5                                                        up of a signifier which may be an acoustic form of the
                                                                      word, and a signified which may be a mental concept.
     Further, it deals with the idea that relations of power          Signifier and signified contribute to the understanding
are discursive. It explores how multiple cultural relations           of meaning. Saussure asserts that semiotics is a way to
related to power are exercised and how these relations                unlock many cultural phenomenons.
are negotiated through discourse. CDA mediates the link
between society and text. The main concern of CDA is                       Barthes’s contribution to semiotics is marvellous. He
to make a connection between the properties of text on                helped to formulate the science of semiotics on modern
one hand and socio-cultural practices on the other hand.              linguistic principals of structuralism. He introduced the
                                                                      idea of the myth that he described in his mythologies.
    Critical discourse analysis also explores ideological             According to him, myth is a type of speech and hence
practices. It is often said that ideologies are often                 anything can be a myth. The semiotic model of Barthes
practiced through discourse. In discursive practice, the              is discussed below.2
effects of discourse practice are observed.
                                                                           Barthes’ model of Semiotic Analysis
     Discourse practice is a subject of historical
conventions. Comprehension of discourse can be made                        This model has three levels as:
through historical practice. Extra linguistic elements                     1. Denotative level: it discusses the literal or
like ideology in historical terms, culture, and society are           dictionary meaning of a given word or sign.
included in the study.
                                                                         2. Connotative level: this level deals with meaning
     The CDA model by Fairclough includes the                         which may vary from speaker to writer and vice versa.
following steps:5
                                                                           3. Mythological level:
       Critical discourse analysis model of Fairclough:
                                                                          This level deals with the concepts which are
       1. Text ( descriptive level)                                   culturally flexible and cultural variables are applied in
Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, October-December 2020, Vol. 14, No. 4   6173

the limited context of culture.

    Data Collection

     This research decodes the semiotic and linguistic
discourses of editorial cartoons published in
international newspapers on covid-19 and other existing
problems. The samples were extracted from the Dawn
and the Economist. The purpose of the study is how
the editors select and publish the cartoons with a verbal
discourse that propagates their desired meanings. These
newspapers (Dawn and The Economist) were selected to
bring about a comparison between Asian and European
media and their selections of contents.

    Sampling
                                                                    It has been established that the integrated model
    The data for analysis was collected from the               operates from bottom to top. There the analysis is as
newspapers (Dawn & The Economist). The semiotics               follows.
of Dawn was published on May 21, 2020, and June 11,
2020, while the semiotics of The Economist appeared                                   Data Analysis
on June 4, 2020, and on July 9, 2020. The role of print             Barthes’ model of semiotics and Fairclough’s model
media has been very important as it reaches everywhere         of critical discourse analysis provides a comprehensive
around the world and anyone can access it easily. And          framework for the analysis of semiotics and discourse
the study aims at finding the fact that print media has        in the existing socio-cultural as well as economic and
been playing its role in portraying the times of pandemic      political processes. The study uses the integrated
around the globe.                                              framework as mentioned in figure1. The three-
    Framework of Analysis                                      dimensional models of Fairclough has been used in the
                                                               bottom-up scheme integrating it with the semiotic model
    A combined framework has been devised for the              of Roland Barthes on parallel lines. The data analysis
study. The researcher selected the Barthes model of            practice starts from a broader perspective to a narrow
semiotic analysis with its levels combining it with            one. Then cultural and social context is explained
three dimensional of discourse analysis proposed by            initially and discursive practice and text analysis with
Fairclough. Both models have been discussed earlier.           semiotic analysis follows it at the micro-level.5

    Limitations and delimitations of the study                      Socio-Cultural Practice (Explanation)

    The analysis contains the critical discourse and                Norman Fairclough proposed that during the analysis
semiotic analysis of cartoons or semiotics published           of the socio-cultural practice of an event, the researcher
in two newspapers as Dawn and The Economist. No                can explore different contexts as a context of frame of
regional language newspaper’s semiotics has been               society, institutional practice context, and immediate
added. It is only English newspapers. This research is         situational context. The semiotics is given to discuss the
limited to the semiotics of two particular newspapers          events of contexts. The analysis of relationships has been
published in Pakistan and the United Kingdom.                  carried out by keeping in view the particular conditions
                                                               of society in the time of the pandemic.5
    Scheme of analysis

    For data analysis, an integrated model was used
by combining two models of semiotics and critical
discourse analysis. It is shown in the following figure.
6174   Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, October-December 2020, Vol. 14, No. 4

                                                  Figure 1. KALS Cartoon

     It contains the semiotics as well as written discourse         from the Indian caste system that was abolished by the
as “I can’t breathe”. Taking into view the immediate                government after the partition of the subcontinent, but
situational context it comes to light that a black                  still this is practiced in other parts of the subcontinent
American was killed by a white policeman in America.                partially or completely) and their rights were neglected.
While the public faces drastic effects of coronavirus on            This institutional practice refers to the subjugation of
their lives another act of racism was reported and the              blacks in the 21st century. The written discourse has
world responded to it as ‘ black lives matter ‘. The event          the phrase ‘ I can’t breathe’. This is layered meaning
attracted the attention of people around the globe and              as George Floyd was killed by a white policeman in
protests erupted everywhere in Europe. The contextual               daylight. Another meaning refers to the social practice
analysis of institutional practices refers to the historical        of Americans about Blacks as there is no freedom for
events which are part of that particular culture. American          Black people as the White enjoy. So this shows the
history is full of stories which concern the persecution of         moral suffocating environment produced by white
black Americans from the time of slave trades. Black                supremacists in America.
has been marginalized as untouchables (idea taken

                                            Figure 2. The Brazilian government
Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, October-December 2020, Vol. 14, No. 4   6175

     This figure highlights the attitude of the Brazilian           The social and cultural practice shows negligence and
government on the pandemic considering it the mere flu.             there is no protective measure to be taken for the control
The semiotics shows that Brazilians are playing football            of the pandemic. People are advised to be safe and stay
surrounding by covid-19 moving and attacking freely.                home rather they are allowed to have a party or outdoor
The idea comes to mind as if they are playing while                 get-together. The immediate situational context refers
viruses as the highlighted discourse say ‘ play on’. This           that there is no conscience of society and the public on
is the state of affairs in Brazil risking the lives of citizens.    the gravity of matter which has jammed the global wheel
                                                                    of economy and politics.

                                               Figure 3. Pakistan & Covid-19

     This figure contains the semiotics as well as                  PROJECT index that Pakistan lays on number 42 for its
discourse. In mid of the year, Pakistan faced critical              GDP. The institutional practice by the state has been a
problems of covid-19 and locust. Locusts were                       great burden on taxpayers and leaving a loan of trillions
destroying the villages and covid-19 attacked the major             on the public. While talking about social practices from
cities severely where people lost their lives and the toll          a historical perspective it is revealed that from the day
continued till mid-July. The situation was worse for the            of its independence from the imperialist rule of British
whole country and people suffered economically and                  colonizers it couldn’t stabilize its economy due to
psychologically. Living under the poverty line Pakistan             multiple reasons. This semiotics can be considered as a
is placed in a third world according to ONE NATION                  classic picture of socio-political practices in the country.

                                                 Figure 4. Zahoor’s Cartoon
6176     Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, October-December 2020, Vol. 14, No. 4

     This figure discusses the health care system of the              in these circumstances. They have to face racism on
country. It is obvious that pandemic is hovering over                 one hand and covid-19 on the other. The Economist
the heads of the family but the health care system is not             also portrayed the situation of Brazil that the virus has
supporting. The bold discourse ‘ PANDEMIC’ refers to                  spread everywhere such that there is seems no difference
the spread of the pandemic in the country while there is              that every object seems infected. Dawn discussed the
a lack of appropriate infrastructure. It refers to the idea           domestic issues of agriculture as locusts had destroyed
that how society works and how institutions provide                   the seasonal crops badly and how covid-19 along with
services to people.                                                   these locusts is pressing down the common man. It
                                                                      portrayed the health care system with its shortcomings
       Discursive Practice (Interpretation)                           and lack of modern ways of protection from pandemics.
     The production of semiotics discourses in the wake                    Text and Semiotics (Description)
of covid-19 have described as a discursive practice. The
semiotics of Dawn and The Economist has been selected                     This part of the analysis contains the explanation of
for data analysis. The coverage of The Economist seems                semiotics and the description of the text. For the semiotic
to be of an international kind as it portrayed the racism             analysis, four cartoons have been selected for analysis
in America along with the situation of covid-19. It is of             (Two from Dawn and two from The Economist). The
the view that secular Americans are unable to breathe                 cartoons have been analyzed one by one.

                                             Table 1. Semiotic Analysis of figure 1

              Sign                     Denotation                  Connotation                               Myth

                                   Bomb in exploding          Bomb symbolizes the           Related to the use of military power and
              Bomb
                                       position                 extortion power             modern weapons to suppress the public

                                     The devastating
                                                            Destroyed and questioned         Representing the symbol of threat and
           Coronavirus             effect that it pushes
                                                           the idea of human relations                  total blackout
                                      down the man

                                                            This refers to the idea that     It may refer to the notion that senior
  An old bald man with the                                  old citizens are suppressed      citizens are more affected by racism
                                    The senior citizen       or have been suppressed
           beard                                                                               which is still being practiced and
                                                                                           coronavirus as it targets old age severely.
Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, October-December 2020, Vol. 14, No. 4   6177
    Table 2. Semiotic analysis of figure 2

              Sign                        Denotation                      Connotation                          Myth

    A half-naked man shouting                                                                     Man shouting ‘play on’ shows
                                   This image may refer to the      This refers to the idea of
                                                                                                  that he is concerned with the
                                     Brazilian government             chaos and anarchy
                                                                                                     outrageous pandemic.

                                                                                                     Covid-19 was declared
                                                                                                    as an international health
                                    The novel virus spread in                                       emergency by the United
          Coronavirus                                                 A threat to the world          Nations. This may refer
                                           the world
                                                                                                     gravity of the pandemic

                                         Table 3. Semiotic analysis of figure 3

             Sign                       Denotation                       Connotation                            Myth

                                                                                                   The intensity of covid-19has
                                                                   The virus is coming like           been portrayed as if the
             Rain                        Pandemic
                                                                          raindrops                virus is a raindrop that drops
                                                                                                            everywhere.

                                                                                                  This refers to the devastating
                                                                                                  effects and precious situation
                                   Health care system in          Criticism of the health care       of the health system of
      Tattered umbrella
                                         Pakistan                           system                Pakistan. That it is unable to
                                                                                                   provide necessary measures
                                                                                                           to the public

                                         Table 4. Semiotic analysis of figure 4

           Sign                    Denotation                   Connotation                              Myth

                                                                                        In the mid-year period in the country,
                                                          This may refer to the           Pakistan faced massive attacks of
           Gun                    Use of power          powerful attack of locusts     covid-19 and locusts. This pointed gun
                                                             and pandemic                      refers to the use of force.

              Findings and Discussion                             Barthes’s model of semiotics provides a systematized
                                                                  way to analyze text for better understanding and getting
     Critical discourse analysis is a disciplined way of
                                                                  the real editorial ideologies being presented in the
text analysis. Fairclough devised a way to systematically
                                                                  semiotics. 2
analyze the data at hand with a scientific approach. It
refers to the idea that language is also a scientific field.           The research at hand analyzed the semiotics of
Three stages of analysis provide an insight into the socio-       international newspapers from Pakistan and Britain.
political context of text production. The text is a product       The Economist focused on pandemic and international
of cultural processes that result in a great discourse.5
6178   Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, October-December 2020, Vol. 14, No. 4

affairs. It discussed the hazards of covid-19. The recent                                    Conclusion
incident of racism was also presented in the semiotics.
                                                                         The research briefed on the published semiotics of
This incident took the life of a black American. The
                                                                    newspapers in the wake of covid-19 and other cultural
discourse ‘I can’t breathe’ is of much importance. This
                                                                    practices in recent times around the world. The study
shows the suffocating practice of racism in the time of
                                                                    relied on two different aspects of linguistic analysis. First
pandemic going parallel. This brought a real of great
                                                                    was the semiotic analysis model proposed by Roland
America as it is practicing the outdated version of racist
                                                                    Barthes and three-dimensional critical discourse analysis
practices. It is the time when people are trying to help
                                                                    model by Norman Fairclough. The researcher devised
each other and reconcile with one another. But in the
                                                                    an integrated model of analysis and applied it with a
case of America, the case is different. This shows how
                                                                    bottom-up approach. The findings revealed different
much trump administration is concerned with the health,
                                                                    editorial tactics to produce a piece of semiotics. It also
safety, and civil rights of the public. Other semiotics
                                                                    revealed the incident of racism and its socio-cultural
taken from The Economist is in Brazil.
                                                                    impacts were discussed and its historical perspectives
     Brazil didn’t pay serious heed to the pandemic.                were also discussed. 2’5
Brazil crosses the number of 3 million cases of patients
                                                                        The Economist portrayed the effects of covid-19
infected with the virus. The casualty of seventy thousand
                                                                    in Brazil and its spread all around. The Economist
patients has been reported. Brazilian president was
                                                                    also presented the social practice of racism and its
tested positive with the infection. The semiotics referred
                                                                    consequences were discussed. Dawn presented the
to the idea that they have no problem with covid-19 and
                                                                    socio-economical effects of covid-19 and locusts. It
as seems it is the president of Brazil in the cartoon urges
                                                                    also presented the precarious situation of the health care
to play on and he is controlling the spread. The excessive
                                                                    system.
spread of the virus has been portrayed in the way that
players are playing with the virus instead of football.                  Recommendations
This is a serious situation and alarms the travelers to
decide once again who are planning to visit Brazil.                     The role of media in educating the world and
                                                                    spreading the ideologies has been a contributing factor
     The semiotics of Dawn portrays the domestic                    in nation-states. A critical comparison of the ideological
situation of the country. One semiotics refers that the             biases of newspapers by readers would make an analytical
public has been attacked by the locusts on one hand                 atmosphere for future readings. It is recommended that a
and covid-19 on the other hand. Locusts attacked in the             careful study of coverage style should be the subject of
mid-year as the covid-19, the attack was at its peak. The           the decision.
semiotics was published on May 21, 2020, when the
country was facing massive blows from both sides. And                    Conflict of Interest: I declare that there is conflict
the economy faced tremendous problems as the lockdown               of interest.
was imposed to tackle the situation. This directly affected
                                                                        Ethical Approval: The research approved by the
the common man who was not ready for such outcomes
                                                                    scientific and ethical committee in my department.
of covid-19. Another semiotics referred to health care as
a tattered one in Pakistan. These semiotics was published               Source of Funding: The research funded by the
on June 11, 2020. The month of June in Pakistan had                 author only.
been categorized as the month of a severe attack of
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